Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico has halted transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory after sparks from a waste drum prompted evacuations at both the lab and the disposal site. That is according to a […]

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico has halted transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s contractor for the Los Alamos National Laboratory after sparks from a waste drum prompted evacuations at both the lab and the disposal site. That is according to a […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could go offline for a major ventilation upgrade right around the time the Los Alamos National Laboratory starts casting new nuclear weapon cores and generating a slew of new defense transuranic waste, a lab official said Wednesday at the online Waste Management Symposia conference. “As we progress in our nuclear […]

Paul Kreitz, who has helped manage planning and construction of pit production infrastructure at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the past two years or so, is leaving lab manager Triad National Security in late April, a lab official said this week. Kreitz was not one of Triad National Security’s key personnel. Before Los Alamos, […]

With top managers stressing the need to remain vigilant, the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management had 101 confirmed active cases of COVID-19 within the past week, continuing a downward trend that started in late January.  The figure, shared via email Thursday by an Environmental Management (EM) spokesperson, reflects a sizable drop from the […]

Best known as a military shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries has been part of the Department of Energy’s weapons complex since 2008 and hopes to expand its foothold in the sector, the president of the company’s nuclear and environmental services group said Thursday. The parent of Newport News Nuclear also has an “aspirational” interest in breaking […]

Paul Kreitz, who has helped manage planning and construction of pit production infrastructure at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the past two years or so, is leaving lab manager Triad National Security in late April, a lab official said this week. Kreitz was not one of Triad National Security’s key personnel. Before Los Alamos, […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could go offline for a major ventilation upgrade right around the time the Los Alamos National Laboratory starts casting new nuclear weapon cores and generating a slew of new defense transuranic waste, a lab official said Wednesday at the online Waste Management Symposia conference. “As we progress in our nuclear […]

Crews handling legacy cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory were relieved last summer to find an underground chromium plume remained static during three months of bare bones operations due to COVID-19 restrictions. “One of our concerns was the possibility of plume rebound,” where it might drift closer to local drinking water […]

The Department of Energy is testing Saltwaste Disposal Unit 7, a key part of the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste cleanup effort, for leaks, the agency said this week. Amentum-led contractor Savannah River Remediation is conducting what DOE described in a press release as a liquid tightness test, which involves pumping 33 million gallons of […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition to hear a challenge brought by New Mexico-based Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety over a Clean Water Act permit at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. The high court’s denial of certiorari, or “cert” in legal shorthand, means a decision last April by the […]

With the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico undergoing its regular annual maintenance outage, there were only three shipments of transuranic waste to the underground salt mine during February. Two of the three shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) during the month came from the Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

With the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico undergoing its regular annual maintenance outage, there were only three shipments of transuranic waste to the underground salt mine during February. Two of the three shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) during the month came from the Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition to hear a challenge brought by New Mexico-based Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety over a Clean Water Act permit at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. The high court’s denial of certiorari, or “cert” in legal shorthand, means a decision last April by the […]

The New Mexico Environment Department’s deputy cabinet secretary, Jennifer Pruett, is retiring in May after a 37-year career that included 20 years with the state agency. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) said in a Monday press release it is actively working to fill the post by April. The deputy secretary is appointed by Gov. […]

The Department of Energy’s legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico suspended some work for more than a week in January to address safety issues, according to a recent staff report to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. According to a board report dated Jan. 29 and posted online this […]

The New Mexico Environment Department asserts in a state court filing this week the Department of Energy is not meeting its cleanup obligations for the Los Alamos National Laboratory under a 2016 consent order — an order the state wants to terminate. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) filed its complaint Thursday with the state’s […]

The Department of Energy’s legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico suspended some work for more than a week in January to address safety issues, according to a recent staff report to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. According to a board report dated Jan. 29 and posted online this […]

By April, both of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s next-generation plutonium-pit factories should reach the critical decision 1 milestone that solidifies the long-conceptualized designs of the facilities intended to manufacture new nuclear-weapon cores for most of this century. The semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency is planning the Los Alamos Plutonium Pit Production Project at the Los […]

Harsh winter weather this week in the Southwest and West scrambled work schedules at a couple of nuclear sites around the Department of Energy’s weapons complex. The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was closed on Tuesday due to snow and wintry weather and the federal complex also had a delayed opening on Wednesday, […]

The Washington Department of Ecology is taking public comment through March 25 on proposed modifications to the state’s permit for key equipment used to help control liquid waste volume in underground tanks at the Department of Energy’s Hanford site. The original transfer lines that connect double-shell tanks holding radioactive waste to the 242-A Evaporator flunked […]

By April, both of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s next-generation plutonium-pit factories should reach the critical decision 1 milestone that solidifies the long-conceptualized designs of the facilities intended to manufacture new nuclear-weapon cores for most of this century. The semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency is planning the Los Alamos Plutonium Pit Production Project at the Los […]

Non-essential workers in many areas around the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state are staying home Monday due to adverse weather, according to an advisory posted on an operations website run by a contractor. The stay-home advisory applied to non-essential day shift workers north and south of the Wye Barricade, including Richland, according […]

The New Mexico Environment Department has scheduled a virtual community engagement meeting Feb. 25 to discuss issues on the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, including radioactive contamination found on a public road  outside the federal complex. The session, which will be held via Webex, is planned from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Mountain Time. […]

A group dedicated to supporting communities around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, is still seeking a new executive director, which would be its third in three years,  and is planning to discuss the issue Friday. The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) board of directors will discuss a request […]

New Mexico will hold hearings in the coming weeks about restarting excavation of a new utility shaft at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, the Department of Energy’s manager for the transuranic waste disposal site told state lawmakers in a virtual briefing Tuesday. Reinhard Knerr, the DOE’s manager of the Carlsbad Field Office that […]

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will leave the Senate Armed Services Committee and join the chamber’s Appropriations Committee, keeping intact an important legislative shield for nuclear sites in the Land of Enchantment. I’m looking forward to serving as Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee as well as a member of the Appropriations Committee. I’ll also […]

The Department of Energy’s plans to kick off a public comment period next month on options for removing seven aging structures within the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a Monday announcement, DOE said these are “Tier 2” structures, meaning the facilities are chemically or radiologically contaminated due to Hanford’s […]

A standard box of transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, stuck at a commercial site in Texas since 2014, has been approved for shipment to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. When that waste box is shipped there will be 74 remaining at Waste Control Specialists, Brian McGovern, […]

The New Mexico Environment Department expects the Department of Energy will start work this spring cleaning up contaminated land along DP Road, just outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a state spokeswoman said this week.  The DOE and legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos submitted the preliminary screening plan on Dec. 21 to […]